Texting is such a widely accepted — even preferred — method of communicating that it only makes sense for hotels to engage guests via text messaging. Today, artificial intelligence-enabled applications are opening up more possibilities for text requests, easing demand on staff while providing more bespoke experiences. Hotels are leveraging those capabilities in different ways.
Talking to Rose
With more than 3,000 rooms, the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas has a lot of inventory and guests to manage. “Rose,” the property’s chatbot with an attitude, helps relieve the pressure. Rose made her debut in 2017, and at this point nearly 100% of the resort’s guests converse with her via text at least once during their stay.
The relationship starts even before check-in, when guests receive a text with their room assignment and an alert when the room is ready.
If the room isn’t ready for check-in, Rose beckons with various ways to pass the time. She instructs: “text me ‘art tours’ or ‘restaurants,’” which in turn prompts a guided walk through some of the hotel’s 700-piece art collection or a preview of the F&B outlets, along with the skinny on secret menu items.
Rose isn’t just for overnight guests, either. “A ton of people just walking through the property want to find out what they can do,” and they can tap into Rose’s knowledge too, said Tom Evans, the Cosmopolitan’s chief marketing officer.
Most of the guest texts involve typical questions about the resort’s amenities — restaurant hours, pool access and so forth. Another category is service-related — requests for extra towels or hangers, room service orders, wake-up calls or check-out. The most active texters, about a quarter of all guests, send five or more messages.
Rose was upgraded last year with an AI and natural language processing platform, which allows her to respond more quickly and better understand context and sentiment; texts that go beyond her scope automatically get escalated to the hotel’s guest services team.
“We want the guest to understand they are being transferred to a live person, but Rose does it in a way that’s very Cosmopolitan,” Evans said. She might say, “You got me on that one. Let me transfer you to one of my human friends.”
“Las Vegas is a 24-hour town, and people have needs in the middle of the night. Being able to provide service to guests when they need it is critical,” Evans added.
It’s also good for the bottom line: Guests using Rose tend to spend more at the hotel — about 28% more.
Ask Edward
Edwardian Hotels London’s chatbot came about after the group started texting guests to encourage them to check in and select a room before they arrived. So many guests used the service and responded with specific questions about the hotels that the company decided to introduce “Edward.”
Guests booking at The May Fair or one of the 11 Radisson Blu Edwardian properties receive a confirmation text from Edward at the time of booking; it includes a link to download the app.
When it was rolled out in 2017, about 20% of Edwardian guests used the service; today, that figure is closer to 70%.
Edward is equipped to answer questions on more than 1,600 topics. It can handle nearly any guest need, from tips on local tourist attractions to reservations for spa treatments, room service orders, requests for a spare toothbrush and more. More than 400,000 guests speaking 59 languages have consulted with Edward so far.
When Edward is stumped, his human counterparts jump in, but that is a rare occurrence. “Edward is built with advanced algorithms and so is able to quickly learn from new requests and replicate the same problem-solving technique to work out future responses,” said Michael Mrini, Edwardian’s director of information technology and the “father” of Edward.
Edward not only has increased staff efficiency — its functions extend to the team’s own questions about scheduling or time off. Meeting planners and attendees also can text Edward with support requests and questions about meeting room locations.
Edward also has a fan club. Hotels have received handwritten notes addressed to him, and online reviewers rave about his capabilities. “We have seen a direct correlation between guest satisfaction levels — measured by a Net Promoter Score — and the use of Edward,” Mrini added.